


(you're) havin' my baby

by bukowsking



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), F/M, Fluff, Hair Braiding, Idiots in Love, M/M, Multi, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Parenthood, Pregnancy, Protective Bucky Barnes, Sperm Donor, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22688071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bukowsking/pseuds/bukowsking
Summary: tony and pepper are about to embark on the thrilling adventure of parenthood. tony enlists the help of one bucky barnes.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes
Comments: 1
Kudos: 87





	(you're) havin' my baby

**Author's Note:**

> i think this was a concept posted on tumblr but for the life of me i can't remember who it was otherwise i'd credit them. i own nothing. enjoy xx

When Tony set his ringtone to Darth Vader's marching music, he thoroughly enjoyed it. For about a day and a half. Now, he's grumbling and groaning as it blares beside his head and shocks him awake at 3:30 in the morning.

Pepper.

Intrinsically, Tony had known that when he agreed to hand over his sperm to Pepper and Rhodey that he'd signed up for a certain degree of responsibility for the spawn. However, he didn't think these responsibilities would boil down to, essentially, being a food delivery service. Pickles with ice cream, hard boiled eggs slathered in peanut butter. You name it, Pepper's craved it. And it wasn't exactly like Rhodey could just up and go get these things for her, what with his disability and the fact that SHIELD kept him on a very tight schedule, much to Pepper's dislike. Perhaps there was a certain degree of guilt Tony felt for involving Rhodey in the whole Civil War conundrum in the first place, but that was neither here nor there. At the end of the day, Pepper was birthing his first legitimate child and he felt he owed her the world for that. So when Pepper came calling, Tony went running.

"Hey, Pep, you need the usual? I can have it over in about ten minutes, tops." Tony speaks into the phone that's held between his ear and his shoulder as he shimmies into his jeans, and promptly sits back down when he hears the first choked sob that leaves her mouth. "Oh no, Pep, I'm sorry, it's okay, I should've asked what you wanted instead of assuming." He quickly tries to soothe the woman, knowing that it isn't exactly her fault that she's been so sensitive lately. He exhales softly, praying to god that Rhodey's been doing his part in taking care of his very pregnant wife, even though the kid isn't biologically his. Not that Tony ever had his doubts, mind you. Rhodey was good company, and even better best friend. If there were any qualms about who the World's Best Dad really was, it would most certainly be Platypus.

"Tony, Tony are you even ready for this? For her?  _ God _ , I just…" Her voice wavers, and Tony's ear is stuck to the line like glue. "You're the best person I know and you're gonna do right by here but… but do you even know how to braid hair? How to prepare a bottle? To change a  _ diaper?  _ Oh god, I think I feel contractions. Tony, Tony, you better be ready for her."

A hand scrubbed over his face, and he pointedly try to ignore the way his heart rate increased. He loved Pepper dearly, truly, but if he had to answer one more panicked call like this, he was gonna lose it. "Pep, honey, darling, take a deep breath for me, alright? No worries, be happy and all that."

"No worr -  _ no worries?!  _ Tony, you aren't the one carrying around a goddamn bowling ball in your uterus and having heartburn twenty four fucking seven! You know what, this phone call was a mistake, I'm sorry, goodnight, Tony."

_ Click _ .

He sits there for a few moments in silence, inhaling for a long minute and exhaling the next, effectively calming himself down as he tossed the phone back onto the nightstand. There may be no late night grocery trip this time, but he's wide awake all the same now. Might as well get something productive done, he is pretty behind on his newest upgrade for Bucky's arm. So, he gathers himself and trudges into the elevator, not even having to give JARVIS verbal command before he's descending to the lab.

\------------------------

He came to the lab to get work done, but somehow Tony ends up watching a slew of hair braiding tutorials on YouTube instead. He's about halfway through the sixth video of the night, fingers tangled in one of Clint's kids' Barbie doll's hair when he decides to give up and move on. See, Tony was a perfectionist and so when he wasn't good at something, he worked hard at it until he was the best. However, in those rare instances in which he wasn't able to master said craft, he folded in the towel. So, apparently, he can figure out how to bend time with no hiccups but braiding hair? He might as well be trying to resurrect King Tut.

Not that he hadn't been asked to try. But that is a story for another night.

So, he instructs JARVIS to reinstate the sleepytime protocol, and lets out a deep breath as he, once again, enters the elevator. This time, he asks to be taken to the communal kitchen, figuring that since it was nearly six in the morning he might as well get a head start on breakfast. By now Rogers was probably on his morning run with Wilson and Romanoff, Clint and Thor were most definitely still slumbering away, and the rest of the Avengers were too inconsistent in their routines for Tony to predict what they could be doing.

So color him surprised when he makes his journey through the communal living room and catches sight of one Bucky Barnes tucked into the far right corner of the couch, draped in a weighted blanket and focusing closely on what looks to be  _ 13 Going on 30 _ . Well, at least the man has decent taste in early 2000's chick flicks. It makes Tony's decision to slide in next to him much easier.

"Hey, Snowflake. The blanket treating you alright? God, I love this movie. Always makes me crave Razzles though. I can see if J can have some delivered. JARVIS?"

"Tony."

It's only one word, his name, but he knows when people say it in that tone of voice that they're trying to get him to slow down. He chews a bit on the inside of his cheek, and nods. "Sorry, ah, must be the heroic dose of coffee I've ingested over the past few hours. Speaking of, you want any?"

"Hours? Tony, did you even sleep?" 

"That, my dear, is a non-issue. But if you must know, I did in fact get a strong two hours. Until Pepper and the spawn interrupted. C'est la vie."

"Pepper? Is she alright? Did she need more ice cream? No one can eat pistachio ice cream like that woman, I swear."

Tony's laugh was soft and fond, a testament to the solid friendship he and Bucky had spent the last five years building up and solidifying. Safe to say no amount of Steve Rogers brand bullshit could get to them now. "Yeah, she's alright. Just her bi-weekly three a.m. freak out about how utterly unprepared and unknowledgeable I am about all things girl." He shrugged, picking at a loose thread from Bucky's blanket and pointedly avoiding any and all eye contact. That man's eyes were more intense than they had any right to be, and in all honesty Tony just really didn't need the Barnes Pity Party Special. He was a grown man, he could handle a bit of flack from the woman who'd pretty much ran his entire life because he was too much of a mess to handle things himself. 

"I don't… I don't know how to braid hair."

The admittance is soft, but not so soft that Bucky doesn't hear it. His eyebrow raises, his lips purse, but he does Tony the favor of not saying anything. He knows how much Tony despises it when people patronize and try to placate him, so instead Bucky simply shrugs and says,

"You can practice on me. Got about a month or so 'till the thing makes its debut, right? That's more 'an enough time to figure it out. Been wonderin' what new hairstyles I could do with this here mop anyhow."

His words make Tony exhale sharply, and really, he could just about kiss this half-man, half-hunk of muscles and metal for being so understanding. The look in his eyes is soft and fond as his hand seems to grow a mind of its own and reaches out to embed itself in said mop, and if he were in a better state of mind he'd realize how vulnerable this moment actually was. 

"Yeah? Meet me in the lab in ten. No distraction, and you can bring the Razzles. It's a date."

A date.

_ Is it? _

\-----------------

The weighted blanket is secured over Bucky's hefty shoulders, and he's sat facing the television, laughing and chucking different colored Razzles into his open mouth as  _ Legally Blonde _ plays. Clearly, Tony never figured he and Bucky would share this rather specific guilty pleasure, but he's thankful for it. It gives him something to ramble on about while his hands get busy getting tangled in the thickness of Bucky's hair. I mean, really, this guy oughta be the spokesperson for Pantene or something. Maybe Tony could have that arranged sometime in the future.

It's safe to say that Tony's miles beyond frustrated, having had to brush the knots from Bucky's hair about a million times since creating knots is all his hands seemed to be able to do. The concept of a single braid was simple enough; section the hair into three pieces, and pretty much alternate the layers over and under each other and boom! But for some reason, something was getting lost in translation here. He prayed that he wasn't hurting the super soldier, but then again, he wasn't exactly too sure what Bucky's pain threshold was like. I mean, shit, he blasted off his damn  _ arm _ and the man barely made a sound. Although that may have just been the shock of the pain. Either way, Tony hoped he was making some sort of progress.

"You know, I could shut this off. Put on one of 'em Youtube thingymajigy's you've been watchin' so you can follow along."

"No, no, your comfort is priority number one. Tony's Great Adventure With Hair-braiding is seeming to be a bit of a flop. Maybe Pep's right after all, and I'm just  _ really _ underprepared. I mean, when the hell was the last time I changed a damn diaper? Or the first time? I can barely keep a handle on DUM-E let alone a tiny human. And the  _ crying _ -"

There's - there's lips pressed up against his and if it weren't for the way Bucky's strong hands were cradling his face, he'd just about keel over where he was sat. As far as first kisses go, it's definitely a -  _ very welcome, mind you - _ surprise, and even though Tony's sure his breath must be questionable, it's  _ them _ and it's  _ perfect _ . Bucky pulls back after a few moments, and Tony's caught in those steel-blue eyes that always seem to make you know where home is.

"Tony, you are the smartest fella I've ever known. You're  _ kind _ . No matter what any news reporter might say, you are a good fuckin' person and there ain't no doubt in my mind that you will be the best father - uh, sperm donor alive."

Bucky seems to release a breath he didn't know he was holding, and the hands that once held Tony's jaw fall to where the other man's hands are rested on his thighs. Their fingers intertwine, metal against flesh, and there's unspoken words there that neither of them need to hear to know what just happened. Anyone could sense the palpable emotions that were budding between these two. It was all just a matter of time.

Bucky's lips curl up in a smile, and there's another gentle kiss being pressed to Tony's cheek before the soldier's turning back to face the television, just as Elle Woods is tossing her graduation cap in the air. "Now get back to work, genius, we still got  _ Aquamarine _ comin' up next."

\------------------

Tony masters the braid, of course. Dutch braids, French braids, waterfall braids; you name it, Tony Stark can do it and it's most likely the hairstyle Bucky Barnes is wearing that week. 

Bucky's there when Tony's locked away in his lab, frantically putting together the temperature controlled crib for Pepper. Bucky's there when Pepper calls at 2 in the morning to let them know it's time. Bucky's there to watch over Tony's shoulder as he meets Morgan Maria Potts for the first time. And you know damn well he makes sure to be there the first time Tony braids her hair, a beautiful single braided bun to match Bucky's.

But nothing compares to seeing Tony try to handle Morgan's first period. Now that's something Bucky just can't help with.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and criticisms always appreciated!! xx


End file.
